London Buses Route R2
London Buses route R2 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Running between Biggin Hill and Orpington, it is operated by London General. History Route R2 commenced operating on 16 August 1986 between Orpington Station and Biggin Hill Valley via War Memorial - Sevenoaks Road - Green Street Green - Farnborough Hill - Shire Lane - North End Lane - Downe - Luxted Road,Single Street - Jail Lane - Biggin Hill - Kings Road as a Monday to Friday service. The route was initially operated by Roundabout from their St Mary Cray (OB) garage using Optare Citypacers and Robin Hood bodied Ivecos. The route was introduced to replaced route 858. On 31 October 1987, a Saturday service was introduced and was converted to full Robin Hood bodied Iveco operation. On 21 November 1992, the route was extended from Orpington Station to Petts Wood Station. On 24 April 1993, the Robin Hood bodied Ivecos were replaced by Marshall bodied Ivecos. On 14 August 1993, the route was diverted at St Mary Cray via Sefton Road and full lenghth of Amherst Driveinseat instead of via Sherborne Road and Dorney Rise. On 2 December 1995, the route passed to Crystals operating from their Crayford (FR) garage using Crystal bodied Mercedes 709D's. In 1999, Crystal bodied Mercedes 709D's were replaced by Plaxton Beaver bodied Mercedes Varios. On 2 May 2000, a schoolday service operated by Metrobus from their Orpington (MB) garage using a Palatine 1 bodied Volvo Olympian was introduced to replace the withdrawn section of route 146 between Biggin Hill Melody Road and Charles Darwin School. On 16 August 2003, route R2 was included in the sale of Crystals to Tellings Golden Miller. In October 2003, the Palatine 1 bodied Volvo Olympians was replaced by a Scania OmniDekka. On 21 February 2004, the route was rerouted at Orprington to run via Locks Bottom and Keston Mark, the withdrawn section via Green Street Green was replaced by new Route R8. At the same time, the special schoolday journeys between Orpington and Charles Darwin School were discontinued, although one AM journey to Biggin Hill and a return PM, will operate via the school. In June 2004, the route was converted to low floor operation using Caetano Nimbus bodied Dennis Dart SLFs. On 5 March 2005, the route was included in the sale of Tellings Golden Miller's Crayford (FR) garage to Metrobus and the allocation was transferred to Orpington (MB) garage. On 2 December 2006, the route was retained by Metrobus. On 9 June 2007, the Caetano Nimbus bodied Dennis Dart SLFs were replaced by brand new East Lancs Esteem bodied MAN 12.240s. On 26 July 2008, the school journeys via Charles Darwin school were withdrawn. On 3 December 2011, the route was retained by Metrobus. In July 2014, the Go-Ahead Group restructured its bus operations, which included the transfer of Route R2 from Metrobus to Go-Ahead London. On 1 April 2017, the route was retained by London General and was withdrawn between Orpington and Petts Wood. In April 2017, the East Lancs Esteem bodied MAN 12.240s were replaced by Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 Darts. Current Route Route R2 operates via these primary locations: *Biggin Hill Valley East Hill *Biggin Hill *Biggin Hill Airport *Leaves Green *Keston Mark *Locksbottom *Orpington Station *Orpington Gravel Pit Way External links *London Bus Routes Gallery *Full Timetable (PDF) R02, London Buses routes